This invention relates to both electronic gaming devices and live casino table games which are designed to comply with both federal and state gaming regulations. For the most part, traditional electronic gaming devices, such as video poker machines, slot machines, twenty-one games or craps games as well as live casino table games such as twenty-one, craps and baccarat have not been able to comply with such regulations.
This compliance is accomplished through program designs for the play, of these games which will cause them to be played in adherence to pari-mutuel definitions.
Pari-mutuel betting is considered the fairest system of betting known and is generally credited with the elimination of bookmakers at racetracks. The pari-mutuel system was devised in 1870 by Pierre Oller, a French businessman. The term pari-mutuel derives from the French expression meaning "a wager among ourselves". There have been many improvements in pari-mutuel wagering since its inception. The present method of calculating payoff prices in pari-mutuel pools was set up in 1908 by Col. Matt J. Winn and Judge Charles Franklin Price of Louisville, Ky. These methods have remained fairly standard in the United States and Canada.
The general concept of pari-mutuel wagering comprises a betting system in which winners share the total stakes wagered on an event minus a percentage for the management. Another way of stating this is that pari-mutuel wagering is a form of betting in which the losers' wagers (less a percentage for the house and taxes) are distributed among the winners. A representative example of pari-mutuel wagering occurs in horse race betting in which those who bet on the winning horses share the total stakes wagered minus a small percentage set aside for the management and to fund the purses in the horse race. In the typical horse race pari-mutuel wagering system, the first three horses (the win horse, the place horse and the show horse) create winning events for the bettor.
Machines have been developed that record and calculate the payoffs in a pari-mutuel wagering system. Traditionally a pari-mutuel machine has been defined as a machine for registering and indicating the number and nature of bets made (as on a horse race) in the pari-mutuel system of betting. Electronic pari-mutuel machines have been developed that register the wagers in pari-mutuel betting as they are made and calculate and post the changing odds and final payoffs.
Video poker has become one of the most desirable games of choice in the history of modern legalized gaming. Video poker is a generic term covering a myriad of electronic gaming devices, referred to as video poker machines, that simulate the play of different types of poker games. In its original form, a video poker machine electronically displayed a five card draw poker hand. The player had the option of holding or discarding any of the five displayed cards. The video poker machine would then display replacement cards for the cards that had been discarded. The player would win multiples of his original bet based on the type of poker hand that he had achieved after the draw of the cards. The payouts were based on traditional poker hand ranking with a Royal Flush being the highest and paying the player the most, all the way down to a Pair of Face Cards that would pay the player one-for-one odds on his original bet. Any hand less than a Pair of Face Cards would be a loser.
A traditional video draw poker machine uses a single deck of 52 cards and has one player using that single deck. The deck is reshuffled after every hand. It is a simple mathematical calculation to determine the probability of the various types of poker hands being achieved on any single deal and draw. The payouts can then be selected so that the house will hold a percentage of the wagers made. On any given hand, there is no guarantee that the house will win, rather the profit of the game is realized by the probabilities involved from the play of the machine over a long period of time.
In traditional electronic video poker machines, the house can adjust the pay tables according to the laws of probability, putting the odds in favor of the house. The house then banks the game and takes wagers with the odds in their favor and relies on the laws of probability for its profits. Another factor the house uses to increase its profits is the lack of proficiency and inexperience of the player with regard to draw poker probability and theory of play. This also results in an increase of the level of the house's profits.
Electronic video poker machines as described above do not operate in a pari-mutuel manner. Players do not typically compete for common pools of money in these games. They are played as house banking games and therefore fall outside legalized gaming as defined and permitted in most states. Pari-mutuel gaming on the other hand is legal and permitted in a vast majority of states within the United States. The present invention describes game formats which will comply with these pari-mutuel regulations and, therefore, be playable in all states allowing these types of gaming activities.
Indian tribal gaming operations have become a large and controversial form of gaming in recent years. At present, the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Agency is in the process of prohibiting all coin operated gaming devices on Indian land unless the tribe enters into a compact with the state government that authorizes the use of these types of gaming devices. It may be assumed that the introduction of pari-mutuel-type electronic gaming machines will allow for a much smoother entry into these markets as these machines will comply with regulations already in force in most states.
Currently, table games such as twenty-one, craps and baccarat are played as house banked games. A house banked game is any game of chance that is played with the house as a participant in the game, where the house takes on all players, collects from all losers and pays all winners, thus deriving all profits from the outcome of the game. These games can also be played as player banked where one player banks and plays against the other players. In many states, house banked gaming is illegal, therefore many establishments, including those on Indian reservations, have resorted to allowing player banked table games. There are, however, some disadvantages with player banked games. Player banked games move at a noticeably slower rate and the amounts that a player wagers are often limited due to the amount carried by the banker. For example, should a player with only one hundred dollars bank the game, he may choose to wager only twenty dollars, thus greatly limiting the amounts which the other players can wager.
In pari-mutuel table games, the house cannot win money from the players but can only collect a commission on wagers. With a commission level established which would provide sufficient profits to the operators this could, however, be a boon rather than a detriment. While the house could no longer win money from the players, it could also not lose money to the players. This would allow for a far lower level of capital funding necessary for the operation of the casino and would also remove pressure on the bankroll of the casino because there will not be any abnormal periods of losses by the house. Traditionally, in house banked casinos, due to pressure from upper management, floor persons and pit bosses have a tendency to show undue concern over the money won by players. In turn, pressure is placed on the dealers when players win big bets. This typically creates a somewhat hostile environment for the player and has a negative effect on public relations with the players. However, in a pari-mutuel table game system, whatever a player bets and regardless of whether he wins or loses, the house's commission is determined by the rate of collection (or "rake") on the player's wager. Should the player win that bet, the house still retains the commission on that one wager, and would continue to collect the commission on any future bets that player may make.
This would change the attitude of casino management because the house's profits are not based on the outcome of the game. In a game such as twenty-one, the house could modify the rules of play to make the game more advantageous to the player (e.g., paying 2 to 1 on a blackjack rather than 3 to 2, paying double the bet for having five cards or more with 21 or under, allowing players to hit aces after splitting them rather than allowing for only one card on each ace, etc.).
Many racetracks are apprehensive with regard to having casino games on the premises for fear that casino gaming may detract from the wagering on horse racing, thus making casino gaming the primary choice of wagering and deteriorating the value of the sport of kings. However, by allowing for transfer of funds from a master pari-mutuel pool into a pool such as a jackpot horse race pool, the stakes on the racetracks can be greatly increased which would insure more wagering on horses. For example, the pari-mutuel horse race jackpot pool could be increased due to transfer of funds from the master pari-mutuel pool for players who could pick the trifecta pool (first, second and third horse in a precise order for a particular race). This high increase in the jackpot pool would attract more players to wager on races.
It is envisioned that, with the introduction of gaming machines that comply with regulations in force in most airspace in the U.S., the placement of pari-mutuel electronic video poker consoles on airliners will provide the passengers with a source of entertainment heretofore unavailable. The value of this in terms of both the attraction and additional revenues for an ailing U.S. airline industry cannot be overemphasized.
Pari-mutuel wagering is legal in every state except Utah and Hawaii. Pari-mutuel video games on aircraft can conceivably be played while flying over the airspace of states which have expanded their existing pari-mutuel gaming laws to include pari-mutuel video gaming. This allows the states to generate additional revenues through gaming taxes without having the disadvantages which come with the spread of gaming in their state. Gaming taxes can be collected on a pro-rated basis by the participating states.
In the past, there has been no need to legally transport gaming equipment across state lines continuously. Now with the advent of pari-mutuel electronic video gaming on aircraft, gaming equipment will be crossing state lines continuously. In order for states to collect taxes while video gaming is being played in their air space, there will have to be a sharing of revenue (gaming taxes) from the pari-mutuel pools by states on the aircraft's route.
Also with pari-mutuel gaming the passengers will be playing against other passengers and not against the airline. This should eliminate resentment towards the carrier by people who lose, since the airline is just managing the machines and not participating in any wagering.
Aside from the obvious advantages of pari-mutuel in-flight gaming, as it allows for the placement of gaming devices on aircraft which conform to legal requirements in all states in which overflight occurs, it also has the ability to establish a procedure for the collection of gaming debts incurred during in-flight gaming. Historically, gaming debts have proven difficult to collect in states which consider certain gaming transactions against public policy. For example, if an operator of a cruise ship operating in international waters extends credit to a player the operator may find that this debt is uncollectible when suit is brought against the player in his state of residence.
Many of the international flights spend a substantial amount of flight time over U.S. airspace (e.g. Los Angeles to London, Los Angeles to Paris and New York to Tokyo). In some of these examples approximately 50% of the flight could be restricted from any gaming revenue. If these hours lost are typically the hours most passengers are not sleeping, then gaming revenues will be down significantly.
Typically, if twenty video poker machines are hooked up together on a progressive jackpot system, the jackpot will rarely exceed ten thousand dollars. An aircraft flying on a domestic route is usually a narrow bodied aircraft, able to seat only an average of one hundred passengers. Therefore, without a multi-deck video poker game on the aircraft, it would be necessary to have five progressive jackpot pools in order for the progressive jackpot to reach as high as ten thousand dollars; twenty machines per progressive. The more machines hooked up to one progressive jackpot pool, the less the jackpot would be, thus the need to limit the number of machines per progressive jackpot pool. Having five different progressive pools on one aircraft would clearly cause problems. Passengers seated on a machine which is linked to a lower progressive jackpot pool would want to move to a seat in which the machine is hooked up to a higher progressive jackpot pool. This would result in the shuffling around of passengers aboard an aircraft. Needless to say, there will be passengers who will be unwilling to give up their seat, whether or not they are gambling, causing unnecessary animosity between passengers.
If a progressive jackpot on one aircraft is much higher than jackpots on other aircraft, passengers may tend to abandon flights with lower jackpots in favor of flights with higher jackpots, thus causing schedule problems for the airlines. Therefore, a sharing of jackpot pools is necessary in order to maintain uniform jackpots throughout the fleet.
The principles of the present invention can also be applied to slot machines, twenty-one games and craps games that are also operated as electronic equipment. These machines can be programmed to operate in a pari-mutuel fashion with the house retaining a predetermined percentage of each wager made.
In view of the inability of traditional electronic gaming devices, such as video poker machines, slot machines, twenty-one games and craps games, to meet legal requirements in most states because the traditional electronic gaming devices are based on probability for determining profits, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a method of playing electronic gaming devices that will satisfy legal restrictions in most states and thus satisfy the legal requirements existent in a rapidly expanding marketplace.
Also, in view of the inability of traditional live casino table gaming, such as twenty-one games, craps games and baccarat games, to meet legal requirements in most states because the traditional live casino table games are house banked games, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a method of playing live casino table games that will satisfy legal restrictions in most states and thus satisfy the legal requirements existent in a rapidly expanding marketplace.
It is a feature of the present invention to program an electronic gaming device to operate based on a pari-mutuel wagering system so that the amount the player can win is based on the amounts that have been wagered by that player and other players less a portion set aside for the gaming establishment that is providing the gaming device.
It is a further feature of the present invention to operate a live casino table game based on a pari-mutuel wagering system so that the amount the player can win is based on the amounts that have been wagered by that player and other players less a portion set aside for the gaming establishment that is providing the gaming device.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the profit to the gaming establishment is predetermined because it is based on a preset portion of each wager that is deducted from the common pari-mutuel pool available to the player for a winning hand or for redeeming his accrued credits. This will make electronic gaming machines and live casino table gaming legal in those states and jurisdictions that permit pari-mutuel wagering.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.